Little Lady
by imnotokaywiththerunning
Summary: Carson meets a baby and loses something important. Now a series of moments between Carson and Mary.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N For this one, I'm assuming that Carson didn't become butler until 1900 give or take a few years. So here he is Robert-not-yet-the-Earl's valet.**

 **Apparently I don't own Downton Abbey. Who knew?**

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Carson hissed at the needle piercing his skin and quickly pulled his hand away from Mister Robert's dinner jacket. He glared at the small drop of blood gathered on the tip of his index finger. Just what he needed, he thought. He found his handkerchief and wrapped it tightly around his finger to stop the bleeding.

He gritted his teeth at the still wailing cry that had first startled him from his work. Surely someone would make it stop soon. Carson glowered out of Mister Robert's dressing room and then sighed as he resigned himself to working through the noise. He needed to have this jacket mended by tonight or Mister Robert would be none too pleased- crying baby or no.

He was halfway finished with the tear when he began to grow worried. The baby was still crying. In fact, she seemed to be getting louder. He furrowed his brow and got on with his work. Nanny would take care of it soon enough. But, he thought glancing towards the hall, what if there was something wrong with Nanny? Who was on duty in the nursery today? He couldn't remember. Perhaps he should check?

No. It wasn't his job to take care of babies. He schooled his face into one of seriousness. He was better off worrying about Mister Robert's dinner jacket than a crying baby. As valet, it was his job to take care Mister Robert, not children.

But the baby was Mister Robert's child and Carson was sure that he would not be pleased to know his first born was being neglected. Carson looked between the door and the garment in his hands.

Quite by accident Carson found himself in the nursery bouncing a crying baby on his hip. "There now, my little Lady. Don't cry."

He found that his voice had a soothing effect on the little girl and continued to speak to her until her tears were dry and she was looking at him with her dark brown eyes. Carson thought she looked so serious for a baby. She did not once look away as her chubby little hand rose up and grabbed his nose.

"Ow!" Carson rubbed his nose feigning hurt. She giggled at him and Carson knew then that he had lost his heart to Little Lady Mary Crawley.

 **A/N 2: I'm thinking about maybe making this a small series of little moments between Carson and Mary. Let me know what you think of this one and if you'd want more. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews for the last chapter. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this. When I first started writing this I thought, "Pssht! This'll be easy!" Let me tell you how wrong I was... I think I've finally found my groove with this one so hopefully, the next chapter won't take so long.**

 **Mary is 7 years old now.**

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Carson held his hand lamp aloft as he made his nightly rounds of the house. It had been almost three weeks since Mr. Finch had retired and Carson had been promoted to butler of Downton Abbey. He was still getting used to his change in position, but his nightly walks through the house while everyone slept had soon become his favorite part of the day. The quiet gave his busy mind time to unwind from the pressures of the day.

Tonight Carson was making doubly sure that all of the windows and outside doors were firmly shut and locked. A great storm was raging outside the Abbey's walls. The steady pouring of rain was interspersed with violent flashes of lightning and booming claps of thunder. Carson stood for a moment in the great hall admiring how the sounds of the storm echoed through the room when he heard the sound of shuffling feet behind him. He spun on his heel raising his hand lamp higher but saw no one.

"Who's there?" he called in his sternest voice. Suddenly a great clap of thunder shook the house and Carson felt himself tackled at the knees. He looked down to see the dark head of a small child clinging to his legs. "Miss Mary?"

The little girl was crying almost hysterically and with every clap of thunder, her grip on his knees tightened. Carson placed his lamp on a nearby table and knelt down to try to comfort the frightened child. As soon as he was eye level Miss Mary wrapped her arms around his neck pressing her face into his jacket. Carson held her until her until her tears calmed enough for him to look down into her face. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and began to dry the tears from her face.

"Now, Miss Mary," he began, gently smiling at the little girl, "what are you doing out of bed, child?"

Miss Mary sniffed. "Cousin Patrick said there were ghosts in the Abbey. I was proving him wrong."

"You were?" Carson asked surprised that the older boy would be telling such tales to Miss Mary.

"Yes, I told him there were no such things as ghosts," she said matter-of-factly. "Edith didn't believe me either so I was proving them both wrong but…"

Carson smiled at her tenacity. "But you got frightened."

Miss Mary leaned back from him to cross her arms defiantly. "I wasn't frightened. I just got lost."

Carson bowed his head to hide his smile. "Of course, my Lady."

Carson stood and looked down at the little girl. "Well now, Miss Mary, do you have more rooms to search for ghosts? Or would you like me to escort you back to the nursery?"

"There's no such thing as ghosts, Mr. Carson," she said while reaching sheepishly for his hand, "but I wouldn't mind if you walked back with me."

"Of course, my Lady," Carson said again and began to lead the way back up the stairs to return Miss Mary back to her bed.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mr. Carson!"

Carson had enough time to look up from his account books to see his door pushed open and a small girl run across his office. She skidded to a halt beside his chair to look up at him excitedly with a book clutched to her chest. Carson couldn't help but smile at her exuberance.

"Miss Mary," he chided. "How many times have we talked about running through the house?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Carson," she said looking anything but. "I wanted to show you my new book Papa sent me from Africa!"

"My, what a handsome book!" Carson exclaimed appropriately as Miss Mary handed it to him. I was a book of illustrations of African animals.

"Edith and Sybil got one too, but mine's best," she said while clambering into his lap. She took the book back from him and placed it on top of his accounts. Carson listened attentively as Miss Mary opened the book to show him all of her favorite animals. "...And this is a cheetah. It's the fastest animal in the whole world."

"Ah, yes," Carson nodded sagely. "I've heard of those. Do you know that's why no one likes to play any games in Africa?"

Miss Mary wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Why?"

Carson smiled and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Because there are too many cheetahs!"

The little girl began to giggle uncontrollably. "That's silly, Mr. Carson!"

Carson laughed along with her until she flipped through the book to find another picture. She pointed at it and looked up at him seriously. "Do you know why you can never trust one of these, Mr. Carson?"

"No," he said equally as serious. "Why is that, my Lady?"

Miss Mary smirked up at him. "Because they're always lion!"

"That's very good, my Lady!" Carson laughed heartily making Miss Mary beam with pride.

The two worked their way through the rest of the book seeing who could come up with the most outrageous jokes until they were both consumed in fits of laughter.

 **A/N Sorry not sorry for the awful jokes. ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm running away, Mr. Carson," Miss Mary announce as she marched into his pantry. Carson looked up from the silver candlestick he was polishing in surprise. The little girl looked up at him with hands on her hips and a determined look on her face. Carson put the candlestick and his polishing rag aside to give his her his full attention.

"Why on Earth would you want to run away, my Lady?"

"No one cares about me," she pouted, crossing her arms. "It wouldn't even matter if I ran away."

Carson knelt in front of her to say softly, "That's not true, my Lady. There are lots of people in this house who care about you."

"No there isn't," Miss Mary insisted with a small sniff. "Papa only cares about Sybil and all Mama talks about is Edith and her stupid piano. No one will miss me."

Carson watched Miss Mary in dismay. The young girl's face was scrunched up in determination, but he could see the hints of tears in her brown eyes. He had not thought his afternoon would involve trying to prevent a daughter of the house from running away. He had no idea what he could say to Miss Mary to change Miss Mary's mind.

"I'll miss you, my Lady," he said. "Who else would I share tea and cake with?"

Miss Mary's lip began to tremble as she seemed to waver in her decision, but then she set her shoulders back and narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mr. Carson, but I've made up my mind." She looked over Carson's shoulder into the silver cabinet. "I'm going to need some money if I'm to run away. May I have some of the silver to sell in the village?"

"Well, now, my Lady," he said raising his eyebrows at her forwardness, "That might prove awkward for His Lordship's dinner party tonight. What will his guests think if he's missing half of his silver?"

Miss Mary seemed to deflate in front of his eyes, and Carson felt his heart break for the girl. He searched for something to say to comfort her. On impulse, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin- a sixpence.

"How about I give you a sixpence to spend in the village instead, on two conditions. "Miss Mary nodded at him wide-eyed. "Number one: you must wait one day before you decide to run away. And number two: you must come tell me goodbye before you do."

Miss Mary studied him shrewdly for a moment before holding her hand out to him. "Deal, but I must pay you back with interest."

Carson took her much smaller hand in his. "You have a deal, my Lady."

Miss Mary beamed at him. She reached up to place a kiss to his cheek and then wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "Thank you, Carson! I would miss you, too."

She skipped from the pantry then, leaving Carson to go back to his polishing with a small smile.

 **A/N Of course, I had to try to write about the story Carson tells Mrs. Hughes about Mary in season 2. Mary was supposed to be younger than she is in this story, but let's just pretend Carson misremembered how old she was. I hope I did it justice.**


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